Lord of the Truth

"The Demons? You Supreme General Aro, your third in command? And the First Heaven Chosen…?!"

Neri tilted her head sharply, her expression a mixture of confusion and disbelief. "What in the heavens could possibly connect all of them?"

Robin chuckled—a deep, amused laugh that carried echoes of nostalgia and triumph.

"Haha, allow me to show you," he said, and with a simple wave of his hand, a soul gate opened next to him. It shimmered like a mirror made of smoke and glass, humming faintly with suppressed power.

From the other side came a sudden blur of motion—a Tirra Beast, one of the mountain's native spiritual creatures, charged through at full speed. Its towering horns were streaked with fresh blood, bits of crimson matter clung to its hooves, and its sharp, hooked beak carried several pristine white spheres, which pulsed faintly like living pearls.

As the beast passed through the gate, something strange happened—

"Nghaaa—" the Tirra cried, but its cry was cut short. The blood and flesh smeared across its form didn't follow it through. Instead, they clung momentarily to the edges of the gate's frame, then slid off with a wet splatter onto the rocky ground outside. Robin's boundary had clearly rejected them, keeping the inner sanctum clean, untarnished.

With the same casual grace, Robin closed the gate behind it, the portal folding into nothingness as though it had never existed.

Then, without even acknowledging the disturbance, he continued,

"It all began decades ago… back when I first embarked on a deep, focused study of blood. I came to believe that if I wanted to truly master its mysteries, I had to observe it firsthand—not just through ancient scrolls or theoretical writings, but living, breathing examples. So I began to summon beings from various species and backgrounds, simply to watch how blood moved through them. How it pulsed, flowed, surged in combat… or stilled in fear."

(Ooooooh, so that's why you rented out that tavern and filled it with dancers, huh old man?) Evergreen interrupted with a mock gasp, clapping her hands together in theatrical realization. (I thought you were just turning into a dirty old pervert, but nooo—it was for research! Scientific research, of course!)

Robin ignored her with a tired exhale.

"Anyway," he waved his hand twice dismissively. "The reason I started studying blood in the first place was for the Demons. I felt like I owed them something. I'd neglected them for years, not because I didn't care, but because I simply didn't understand their physiology… maybe, just maybe, if I could understand their bodies, and how the blood system in other creatures better, I could finally build a system tailored to them."

He turned and pointed toward a series of sweeping lines carved into the side of the mountain, patterns glowing faintly with suppressed energy.

"But as fate would have it, those studies led me down an entirely different path—one that gave me a far greater understanding of how energy flows through sentient blood. How different laws and principles affect that movement. That knowledge… became the cornerstone of everything I've built."

"So in a way… I suppose I should thank the Demons in behalf of humanity, shouldn't I?" he said with a soft smile. "If I hadn't wanted to help them, I wouldn't have uncovered the foundations of the fifth path."

"That makes sense, I suppose… but what about Aro?" Neri pressed, narrowing her gaze once more.

Robin's smile widened, his voice reverent.

"Aro is the main pillars for this platform. The single most astonishing miracle I've ever witnessed in all my centuries."

To many, such a statement would sound absurd. Even Neri blinked in disbelief. But Robin's tone held no irony. No exaggeration. If anything, he was underselling the truth he knew, (You're not being serious.)

"I'm being dead serious," Robin said, eyes shining. "The first time I stood atop the walls of the Demon city and saw Aro in action… it was like watching a god descend. The way he moved, the raw force in his limbs, the precision of his strikes—every motion felt… perfect. And then, when he hurled that massive lightning strike and shattered the wall around me…"

He let out a soft breath, half-laughing. "I won't lie. I felt something close to euphoria."

(…Forget I said anything. Our owner's definitely lost his morals,) Evergreen whispered, half-joking, half-terrified.

"Shut it, what would you even understand?" Robin dismissed her again, this time more firmly, before continuing with a renewed focus.

"You see, energy movement inside a living being is governed by two types of elemental particles: fixed particles and variable particles. Hybrids, mutants, beasts, and most evolved species possess both types. That's what gives them their innate flexibility, their ease of channeling external laws into internal power."

"Demons, however, only possess variable particles. They're like water—ever changing, adaptable, but lacking the stable core needed to form patterns. That's why they struggle to cultivate internal energy in the traditional sense. They rely on their bloodlines almost exclusively."

"Humans, on the other hand…" Robin sighed, his voice growing colder. "We have only fixed particles. Unchanging. Rigid. That's why energy flows through us like it's running through a maze of stone. There's no flow. No flexibility. And that—that—is the root of our disadvantage."

"This is all common theory," Neri said, crossing her arms. "But what makes Aro different?"

Robin's face lit up, eyes burning with fascination.

"Aro is different because he has both types of particles, like most hybrids… but the density of his fixed particles is absolutely unprecedented. I've never seen anything like it in any other creature, human or otherwise. The concentration in his blood is so overwhelming, so potent that it blocks the blood, that I can barely see it individually—I can't even get clear readings."

He took a breath, then added in a tone of deep admiration:

"That's why he can unleash such colossal attacks far beyond his level. Why he can fight toe-to-toe with Raiden—a being whose very existence mocks logic. That's why a single one of Aro's strikes can burn through a quarter of his total reserves. Why, while still only at level 44, he managed to injure a Marshal with just one hit, using pure lighting and nothing more."

"When that fool had the audacity to ask me for a merged law, I genuinely felt like I might lose my mind. Does he not see it? Does he not realize the sheer uniqueness of what he holds within? If he could only stop wasting his time playing with shadows, weaving schemes, and chasing illusions, and instead focus on mastering the innate power coursing through him—he could dominate any battlefield he stands upon. No one would stand a chance."

"Aro has something like that?" Neri blinked, her voice tinged with innocent curiosity.

"That's… remarkable. But… what does that have to do with you, exactly?"

Robin gave a knowing smile, his eyes glittering.

"Ah, the bigger picture will reveal itself soon enough~" he said, making two casual waves with his hand, as though brushing dust off an old secret.

"You see, the third and final piece of this grand puzzle lies in the work done by the First and Second Heaven Chosens. I'm talking about the offensive tattoo system—an ingenious method that uses specially constructed patterns to transform the energy surrounding the user into a specific law's signature form."

(…..)

(…..)

Both Neri and Evergreen tilted their heads, arms folded in identical gestures of intrigue. Their silence was intentional this time—they wanted to listen, uninterrupted, to the full story.

Robin smirked at their attention.

"Alright, now pay close attention... What makes Raiden so exceptional? What is it that allows him to channel the Law of Lightning without needing a single drop of elixir? It's because, whenever he intends to use it, his blood forms a precise lightning pattern instinctively. It manifests on its own—triggered by his intent and the resonance of the lightning law itself. That pattern acts as a conduit—a bridge between intention and reality—that allows him to wield the Fourth Law effortlessly. That's why people revere him as a child of the lightening. You could even exaggerate and say he's one of those rare beings observed and marked by Fate itself."

Robin then pointed, almost theatrically, toward the enormous etched pattern he'd carved into the mountainside. His grin widened with mischief and pride.

"Now listen closely, because here's where it gets really good... I took what I learned from the tattoo system—especially how they shape ambient energy into law-specific patterns—and I used that knowledge to modify the very process of ascending into the Martial Emperor Realm. In my modification, the energy core doesn't just expand or deepen… it actively constructs a law-pattern based on its law foundation, in real time. That pattern is then sent directly into the bloodstream, acting as a ready-made conduit for whatever technique the user plans to unleash next."

He paused briefly, letting the gravity of the idea sink in.

"But of course… there was a problem. Such a process would exert immense strain on the veins. A normal human body isn't built to handle something like that. The patterns would collapse inside the blood vessels before they even had a chance to stabilize. Which meant—this beautiful system I envisioned—it would fail… unless I found a solution."

"And that's where years of research, blood came into play." Robin's voice deepened.

"I dove into everything I ever knew about blood—everything that was handed down to me by Jabba, and everything I uncovered on my own through endless trial and error. Then I drew inspiration from Aro's unique blood. That's when the idea struck—to introduce a second modification to the Emperor ascension process... one that would build additional fixed energy particles from raw energy inside the body."

(…..)

Neri and Evergreen shared a glance of disbelief.

(Wait… is it really that simple?) the look in their eyes said.

Robin chuckled.

"Of course not~ but it's not some unsolvable riddle either." He shook his head with amused resignation.

"You see, blood has a natural tendency toward order. All the particles inside it—fixed or variable—are evenly spaced from one another. Even if a limb is injured or completely severed, once it heals, the particles return to their precise original positions. This level of precision gave me a crazy idea…"

He gestured twice toward the cave entrance.

"Do you remember that hunter? The one who tried to kill me and rob the cave that day?"

(Oh yeah,) Evergreen said with a grimace. (You took your sweet time killing him. Tortured him slowly.)

Robin nodded without a hint of remorse.

"…He died for the sake of the human race." He waved dismissively.

"I used part of the modified technique to inject his body with artificial fixed energy particles. These particles were exact replicas of the natural ones—same structure, same frequency, same density. The only difference? Their origin. They weren't born from within his body."

He took a breath, then smiled.

"But the blood didn't care. It welcomed them without resistance. They spread easily, the bloodstream accepted and organized them flawlessly. The spacing between them was identical to the natural ones, and more importantly… they were fully functional. Ready to transfer energy."

Evergreen's eyes widened as she dropped her crossed arms and shouted,

"Wait—THAT'S what you were doing? You spent twelve hours holding his hand while he screamed his lungs out until he looked like a dried corpse! He was like a damned mummy by the end!"

Robin raised a brow, unimpressed.

"…Please don't drag me into the messy details."